History Main / Nerf

A change to a game that weakens a particular item, ability or tactic. It's usually done to fix something perceived as a GameBreaker, and is almost always a subject of controversy in gaming communities. Occasionally, it's not a change in one game, but rather a change in an equivalent item, ability, or tactic between one game and its sequel.

In the past, Nerfs for console games were all but impossible due to lacking the ability to patch them. Modern consoles, however, provide this ability, so they now join computer games in this. Many games, especially {{MMORPG}}s and other online multiplayer games, are constantly adjusted to maintain balance. Sometimes, that requires taking something powerful down a peg or two. Of course, [[{{Munchkin}} users of]] [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome that item]] will not be amused, and will inevitably flock to the forums to complain, resulting in a FlameWar about whether or not the Nerf was justified. On the other hand, rants from {{Scrub}}s that something ''should'' be Nerfed are just as common. Either way, the subject is a touchy one.

A BalanceBuff or Revamp is a change for the better. These are as controversial as Nerfs; a Buff or Revamp to one unit's HitPoints is effectively a Nerf to the damage of anything attacking it. A FlameWar can even develop on whether a given change is a Buff, Revamp or a Nerf, much less an improvement in the game as a whole.

So why are Nerfs perceived as being such awful things? Well, human beings and even other great apes have a tendency towards loss aversion. For example, if playing a game of chance where you could lose $100, most people would only play if there's also a chance you could also win $200 or more. It works the same way with favorite characters or tactics; perceived losses simply hurt more than perceived wins.

These days, the term has been expanded so that "Nerf" is any downward adjustment, not just an unduly crippling one; similarly, the "Nerf Bat" is no longer [[WithThisHerring what the player is issued]] to take on TheEmpire with, but what the developer whacks him with. Anything subject to these kinds of Nerf might still be useful, but it won't be a GameBreaker anymore.

Nerfs are sometimes a necessary evil for the good of a game's long-term health, particularly competitive games with long ongoing support. If left unchecked, developers will keep adding new things that are stronger and better than the old ones to both keep players interested in the new content and to give them a reason to use them. This phenomenon is known as PowerCreep, and Nerfs are the most effective way to combat this besides the more nuclear option of outright removing them.

* ''VideoGame/DisneySpeedstorm'': On the initial early access release, [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Mike Wazowski's]] "Hold the Door" ability spawned two doors lasting on the track for up to twenty seconds that teleported players a considerable distance ahead (if the player who spawned them used a door) or behind (if another player does). His ability was so powerful that many players used him to win races in ranked multiplayer. A hotfix was released on May 16, 2023, that cut the teleport distances by 10% in both directions, halved the time the doors stay on the track (making charged activations riskier, since they cause the doors to spawn farther away), and made it so that only one door spawns upon normal activation (charged activation still spawns two doors).

*** The move Toxic, which previously could be learnt by each and every Pokémon that can learn at least one TM. As the move was so ridiculously powerful[[note]]it inflicts severe poison, a status effect defeating almost every enemy within a couple of turns, to an enemy Mon with an accuracy of 90% at no drawbacks; as every Pokémon could learn it there was no way to predict which one would use it[[/note]], it stopped being a technical machine (TM) so only Pokémon that can learn it naturally will have access to it, mostly poison types.

** While [[SummonMagic Poundmates]] can now be used more than once per battle, the cost of all of them goes up sharply after the first summon per battle to discourage spamming them.

** ''VideoGame/OnePiecePirateWarriors'' seems to be the most guilty of this out of all the entries, for understandable reasons. Since the source material that it's based on is a shounen manga that features extremely powerful characters, it makes sense to take them down a notch for a video game in which they're playable, to avoid making the game too easy. For example, Law's Room only spans a few meters in the game, despite being able to cover entire mountains in the manga.

*** The aforementioned Toxic was nerfed even further in this gen, not appearing as a TM at all.

*** The move Toxic, which previously could be learnt by each and every Pokémon that can learn at least one TM. As the move was so ridiculously powerful[[note]]it inflicts severe poison, a status effect defeating almost every enemy within a couple of turns, to an enemy Mon with an accuracy of 90% at no drawbacks; as every Pokémon could learn it there was no way to predict which one would use it[[/note]], it now became limited to poison types with only a few exceptions.

* In ''VideoGame/WarioLand4'', Wario has [[HeartsAreHealth an actual health meter]] rather than just being completely invincible like his ''VideoGame/WarioLand2'' self or being "completely invincible outside of the game's [[FinalBoss final boss]] fight" like his ''VideoGame/WarioLand3'' self.

* ''VideoGame/FZero99'', when compared to the original ''VideoGame/FZero'':

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoOnline'' has the infamous Oppressor [=MkII=] which is the definitive edition of GameBreaker in this game. The homing missiles track and shoot extremely fast and it is extremely precise that never fails the targets which is mainly used by griefers to anger players who are doing businesses and sales missions. This was nerfed in The Criminal Enterprises update in which greatly reduces the homing effectiveness and increasing the cooldown of the countermeasures. As for April 27th 2023, the price is now increased from 3 millions to 8 millions with a trade price of 6 millions.

* [[VideoGame/SimCity SimCity 2000]] had the hydroelectric power plants, which, unlike other power plants, didn't need to be replaced every 50 years. That meant that one could build a city dependent entirely on hydroelectric power plants and, as long as you had some sort of positive cash flow, leave the city running overnight and come back to find your treasury pleasantly loaded with funds from thousands of years of tax revenue. It was removed entirely in Sim City 3000, with its spiritual successor being the far less game-breaking wind power plant

** Sometimes changes in the rules happen after a single race, because a team introduced something that gave unfair advantage and couldn't be engineered by its opponents, or was too dangerous, like when Brabham in 1978 won thanks to a rear fan that was promptly banned afterwards. In this case it is an ObviousRulePatch.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', which emphasizes cooperative play more than the average {{MMORPG}}, any perceived "nerf" of a job class can grossly affect that class's invitation rates for years to come, often far out of proportion to the actual impact of the change. The most infamous was the "Dragoon nerf", actually a nerfing of multi-hit [[LimitBreak weaponskills]] in general that prevented them from being spammed, which happened to hit the Dragoon's most famous weaponskill particularly hard. For years, despite the introduction of enemies that a Dragoon would work well against and some shoring up of the job's most glaring weaknesses, Dragoons had a very hard time getting invited to experience point parties; this state of affairs only changed with a controversially large {{Buff}} to ''all'' two-handed weapons.

*** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' nerfed several moves and abilities, such as Dark Void now has 50% accuracy and ''only'' works when used by Darkrai (a Pokémon banned in most tournaments), Gale Wings only works when the user has full HP, Parental Bond's second attack does 25% damage rather than 50%, Prankster won't affect Dark-types and Soul Dew now only gives 20% power boost to Dragon and Psychic moves if held by Lati@s rather than increasing their Special Attack and Special Defense by 50%.